Hún spilar á píanó í stofunni á kvöldin.

She plays the piano in the living room in the evenings.

Breakdown of Hún spilar á píanó í stofunni á kvöldin.

• hún: she
• kvöldið: the evening
• í: in
• á: in

Questions & Answers about Hún spilar á píanó í stofunni á kvöldin.

Why is spilar used here, and what form is it?

Spilar is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb spila.

So:

• spila = to play
• hún spilar = she plays

It matches the subject hún because hún means she.

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Why does Icelandic say spilar á píanó instead of something more like plays the piano?

With musical instruments, Icelandic very often uses the pattern:

• spila á + instrument

So:

• spila á píanó = play the piano
• spila á gítar = play the guitar

This is just the normal Icelandic construction. English uses play the piano, but Icelandic uses a preposition here.

Also, Icelandic often leaves out the article in this kind of expression, so á píanó sounds natural even though English normally says the piano.

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Why is á used twice in the sentence?

The two á's do different jobs:

• á píanó = part of the expression spila á píanó = play the piano
• á kvöldin = in the evenings

This is very common in Icelandic: the same preposition can have different meanings in different expressions. You should not expect one Icelandic preposition to match one English preposition perfectly.

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Why is it and not just ?